Online Project

I would love to connect my students to other students in the country via a program such as e-pals. My purpose would be to share information with the classes on a parallel science experiment we would be conducting in class. We take a Field Trip in the start of the year to collect environmental data from a local lake and wooded area. We find animal specimens and take readings of the lake’s temperature and oxygen content along with other scientific data collection. I would enjoy running a parallel lesson with at least one other classroom and comparing the data to see if we have the same biotic and abiotic factors in our respective park areas. If we could compare with someone in our same Biome- Temperate Deciduous Forest- and with students in the Grasslands or Desert areas, I think we would get some really interesting comparisons and have several “Aha!” moments. It would be even more of an impact if we found a Temperate Deciduous Forest region on another continent and compared data to see the difference in the amphibians and other such data. This could spark great discussions regarding evolution and biome differences.

So, I would go to E-pals and write up a form noting I am looking for classrooms to connect to that would be interested in taking data concerning both biotic and abiotic factors in a lake ecosystem. I would create worksheets that showed what measurements and data my class would be taking. For example, I would provide the following tables.

Classroom School and Teacher :

State:

Lake Name or Location

Date of Data:

Biotic Factors:

Type of Amphibian

Number Found

Type of Insect

Number Found

Abiotic Factors

Air Temperature in Sun	Oxygen content of Water
Air Temperature in Shade	Ph Level of Water
Shallow water temperature	Soil Moisture Level Adjacent to Lake
Deep Water Temperature

I would then share my classes information on e-pals and collect other information to compare to in my class. We would make Excel tables and graphs of the information to compare to the classrooms around the country and share them with those classes for their feedback and a discussion of how they used the results in their classroom.